#GoodNews: Meet Chennai’s Real Life Dr Maaran from Vijay’s Mersal

Actor Vijay played a 'five-rupee doctor' named Dr Maaran in his current blockbuster 'Mersal'. Now, there is an actual 'two-rupee doctor' in Chennai who has been serving the underprivileged in Northern Chennai for more than four decades, theTimes of India reported.

Thiruvengadam Veeraraghavan, 67, completed his MBBS from Stanley medical college. He has been serving the residents of Vyasarpadi since 1973 at a fee of just Rs 2, the Times of Indiareported.

Although he later increased his fees to Rs 5, he became so popular that other doctors in the region got together to protest against his minimal fee and suggested that he takes at least Rs 100 as consultation fee.

Thiruvengadam responded to such protests in his own fashion – he stopped accepting any kind of fee from his patients. The patients can pay him with anything, any small sum they could afford – eatables or nothing at all. As an associate fellow in industrial health (AFIH), he earns a steady living by screening job aspirants for a corporate hospital.

"I studied without any expenses, thanks to the policies of former Chief Minister K Kamaraj. It made me resolve not to charge patients," Thiruvendgadam told TOI. Born and brought up in Vyasarpadi, Thiruvengadam moved out of the region after the 2015 floods washed away his belongings. His clinic however, has stayed at the same location since 1973.

The unsung hero dreams of building a hospital to provide healthcare services to the slum dwellers of Vyasarpadi and serve them all his life. He examines patients at his clinic in Erukancherry from 8pm to 10pm and from 10pm till midnight.

Thiruvengadam's wife is a retired railway officer and his kids have studied medicine in Mauritius. He desires to set up a hospital in Tamil Nadu’s Vyasarpadi with the help of his family.

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